Poor posture is widespread. The lack of daily manual exercise coupled with the current technology age means many hours sitting at a computer desk or long commutes in automobiles. The commonality is arms in front of the body for lengthy periods of time which tends to draw the shoulders forward and down making the chest muscles tight and the middle back muscles long and weak. The resulting effects can manifest in many ways from tension headaches to sore necks, achy shoulders and problematic backaches. This can result in missed work days and a reduced quality of life and oftentimes depression and poor self-esteem.
Building strong muscles creates a better skeletal foundation. Strong muscles keep bones aligned preventing injury caused by repetitive activities and are better able to adapt to physical and environmental stressors which help decrease the risk of injury caused by sudden movements. Strong muscles contribute to strong bones as the stronger the muscles become, the stronger the bones become to support the increased tension.
There are many methods of working the muscles of the middle back. The difficulty in targeting the muscles of the middle back becomes apparent regardless of whether exercise machines, free weights or exercise bands are used. When using the hands to grasp the resistance, there are stronger muscles that may limit the proper contraction of the middle back muscles. A common exercise to work the middle back is a row, as in rowing a boat. The proper exercise protocol is squeezing the shoulder blades together followed by bringing the elbows back past the midline of the body. Most people perform the exercise incorrectly by pulling back with the elbows first using momentum to contract the middle back. However, performed this way recruits the largest and strongest muscles in the upper body, the latissimus dorsi, responsible for bringing the arms behind the midline of the body, or shoulder extension. It also recruits the biceps brachii, responsible for bending the elbow, or elbow flexion. These two muscle groups do the lions' share of the work leaving the middle back undertrained and underdeveloped.
When using the hands to grasp a resistance, the middle back's contractibility will also be affected if there are weaker muscles associated with a movement which targets the middle back. The reverse press is a good example. It is similar to a row but the elbows are raised to shoulder height. If there is a weakness in the rear deltoid, the movement is not performed correctly or to its fullest contraction which will not properly contract the middle back.
This invention will eliminate the use of the larger, stronger muscles and minimize weaker muscles involved in exercises using the hands to grasp a resistance thus properly targeting the muscles responsible for shoulder girdle retraction and depression.
Because of the expense of health club memberships and the time required to travel to health clubs, many people desire to exercise at home. However, many exercise machines are very expensive and require a dedicated area or room for use and/or storage. Also, it is impossible to use large in-home exercise machines while travelling. For these reasons many people do not wish to own a large exercise machine. This device solves these problems as it is light, small and portable.